A Family Endures and Grows Via the "Ultimate Trial"

When the prison doors slammed shut behind him in 1994, Bill Kennedy quickly had to decide whether to trust God in this newest of "trials." Tossed in jail for money laundering and mail fraud after an unfair criminal trial, Kennedy had to wrestle with anger and pain. But he also found grace, God's love and a new ministry behind bars.

Even before Kenney was convicted, the Lord began to change his heart. He admits that while he accepted Christ in 1970, for many years he was "an immature Christian."

After joining Scott Memorial Baptist Church, now Shadow Mountain, Kennedy found a mentor in Christian author and speaker Tim LaHaye. "We were members there from 1992 ... my wife is still a member ... and I think I am?" he laughs. "Every time we went through some rough roads, Tim was always there counseling me."

Kennedy says he experienced some wake-up calls right after charges were filed against him. "One was when my Sunday school teacher at Shadow Mountain was ministering to me one morning. I was crying about my indictment and what happened, and he said, 'Bill, let me ask you a question. Who do you minister to?' and I thought, 'Why should I minister to anybody? I've got my own problems.'"

Then, when Kennedy and his son Nick, who was 16 at the time, went to "Promise Keepers" in 1993, he ran into a man he had led to Christ 13 years earlier.

"That was a way of God saying to me: 'Bill you've been so busy and such a big shot, when is the last time you ever did anything for Me, or lead somebody to Christ?'"

Kennedy says his "god" back then was public policy. "I was a man who felt that I was a conservative and my political beliefs were more important than my spiritual beliefs. I went to church three times a week; I gave substantial amounts of money; and I spent time in the Word every day and that was all."

So the Lord took him to prison to transform his heart and impact some lives.

An Inside Job

"You know, the best thing that has happened to me is that I came to prison," Kennedy told Tim LaHaye.

LaHaye says over the years, he has encouraged Bill to train other men to use the navigator method of hearing the Word, reading the Bible, memorizing the Word, and journaling. At one time, Kennedy had one of the largest Bible studies ever led by a prisoner, something like 27 men, says LaHaye. "He's just had a great ministry. He's a changed man."

Kennedy says he tries every day to "do outreach" - whether by teaching or by silent example. "I have had people coming to me with just amazing hurts, everything from trying and failing to reconcile with their ex-wives, to my buddy, a 21-year-old bank robber whose father left him at birth. He sold marijuana in high school, robbed a bank and ran with drug dealers. He turned to me yesterday and said: 'Bill, I don't know where I'd be without you.'

"To see this young man grow -- knowing that I took part in his eternal destiny -- I think that's the thing that's made me realize the things I was doing before were not going to have an impact on eternity."

He says he particularly enjoys seeing guys leave, then reading the letters they've written. "I also talk to them about how to find a Christian woman and have a Christian marriage. I hate to quantify it, but it's been really tremendous," Kennedy adds.

Tremendous? Isn't there pain too? Kennedy responds: "Of course. But the understanding that I had to come to between 1994 and 1995, when there was a lot of bitterness and anger, was, 'Do I believe God is good?' And if I believe He is good, then He will turn this out for good. So I keep reminding myself of that through all of the many heartbreaks, disappointments, treachery, monotony, loneliness and hurt.

"I think that is what I've come to these last six or seven months -- accepting that this is what God's will is for me, for today."

Kennedy says he has also come to realize that a relationship with Christ leads to better relationships with others, "and that's what it's all about. The big houses, the big cars, the big businesses. If that's what God gives you, fine. But to haplessly go out there is a waste when our relationships with others suffer."

A Loyal Wife

What about Kennedy's closest relationships? How have his wife and children dealt with the imprisonment? "Undoubtedly, at the very beginning, it was difficult," says Bill's wife Debbie.

According to Debbie, "At the onset of everything, you wonder, and you say: 'OK God, I don't know what You are doing, but you take control.' But I still tried to do things on my own. And I got to the point very quickly where I realized that everything was going to go to Him, and He would take care of it for me."

Debbie says she wouldn't want anyone to go through what she has, "nor would I want to go through it again. However, I know that each one of us, individually in our family, have grown because of it."

A number of people have turned to each of the Kennedys for counseling. "Because they've seen our family go through it and remain strong, remain unified," says Debbie, "they just want to know how we've sustained it.

"Basically it comes down to 'I couldn't do it without Christ' and 'I couldn't do it without my Christian friends.' Period. That's it."

God has also used special people to help the family in times of need. When their daughter got married, they didn't have any money, but God provided. Somebody bought a wedding gown, someone else bought the cake, somebody paid for the church location.

"So we had this incredible wedding that Bill, even though he wasn't physically there, did participate in because he recorded a message to our daughter and her husband," Debbie explains. "He had everybody laughing and in tears at the same time. It was a very special time.

"Bill is an incredible husband," says Debbie. "I wish more men could be like him."

And Bill echoes the sentiment: "I was fortunate because I married above myself. I married an incredible lady, and it actually took me going to prison to actually appreciate who she is."

Kennedy says he told the kids several years ago, "I talk a lot about Christ and Christianity, but your mother ... it's part of her very being. I try to be Christ-like, but she is."

Debbie has stuck with Bill when every other woman might have cut and run, Kennedy adds. "We've gone through our difficult times, but actually she told our daughter that she loves me more now than she did before."

The Children

"That was probably one of the hardest things," Debbie reveals. "Myself, trying to remain strong for the kids."

Their 28-year-old son, Robbie, is a special needs child. He now lives at a Christian ranch in Arizona, but lived at home when Bill's troubles first happened.

Debbie says it took Robbie a good couple of years to adjust. "He would get very upset. He's high functioning and so it's even harder sometimes. We'd go up to visit Bill, and he would just be a basket case for a week and a half afterward."

She explains that he would get mad at everybody else because "he was mad that his dad's in there."

The Lord has used the entire family in a lot of different ways, says Debbie. "We've been very transparent about this. We don't hide it; we talk about it."

After she reveals that her husband is in prison, "They'll look at me and say, 'How can that be? You're too happy.' And I say, 'You know what? It's a joy that comes from within. And then I get a chance to share with them that Christ is alongside of me, and our Christian friends. And it makes an impression."

The Kennedys' daughter, April, is 27. Bill says the two of them have grown very close over the last eight years. "She just has a really strong walk with the Lord," Bill adds. "She always has."

Their other son, Nick, is now 24. "It's just amazing to me -- sitting there in the visiting room -- seeing the growth Nick has made in God and coming to know God. I think the thing that has happened is that we 'count our whole life as rubbish,' as Paul said, and we are thankful, because our intimate relationship with God is something that we never would have had without these circumstances."

Bill says Nick and April both helped get an Angel Tree outreach, which collects Christmas gifts for children of prisoners, started on their campuses.

"My son's administrative assistant suddenly came down with cancer, and he led her to Christ," Bill shares. "I'd have to say that I don't think Nick would be walking with the Lord today without this experience. I think he would have gone off and been a self-sufficient man as his father was -- so I'm thankful."

Debbie and Bill both say that "when you suffer, it gives you the ability to understand how others suffer ... it's helped all of us to focus on others, because the pain hurts too much when we focus on our own circumstances.

"What we try to do is live Matthew 6:33, 'Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.'"